Category Archives: History

What To Do About The VA Scandal

Resign:

I wrote in passing yesterday that if President Obama or the people of this country had any self-respect, he’d resign over the scandal of the Veterans Affairs hospitals, which needlessly sentenced an unknown number of American veterans to death through their combination of managerial incompetence, medical malpractice, and monstrously cruel indifference to their clients. Other heads of government have resigned for less. President Obama presented himself to the public as an authority in the field of health-care management and as an executive who not only would insist upon but also would in fact achieve the highest standards in transparent, honest, competent government. He has failed, comprehensively. An honest man acknowledges his failures.

We know from years of experience now that the president is the very antithesis of an honest man. And in his own self delusion, he considers himself indispensable.

[Update a couple minutes later]

The failure of socialized medicine:

Many have wondered about Barack Obama’s prolonged silence concerning the disastrous situation at the Veterans Administration hospitals and then his odd detached demeanor (well, maybe not that odd for him) when he finally did discuss it at a press conference.

The answer is simple. His lifetime dream of a free public (single payer) healthcare system for all just disintegrated in front of him. Forget the wildly ambitious and pervasive “Affordable Care Act,” the government couldn’t even handle the health of our wounded servicemen, acknowledged for years to be by far the group most deserving of medical attention in our country. With veterans dying while waiting lists are falsified, it’s hard to see government healthcare as anything but incompetent, disgraceful and quite possibly criminal.

Government has failed utterly. Does anyone have any doubt that Halliburton or even the dreaded Koch brothers could have better handled the health of our wounded warriors? Probably almost any business would have. There at least would have been some accountability. (It’s interesting to see the quaint Bernie Sanders, the one self-described socialist in the Congress, as opposed to the closeted ones, being the most outspoken defender of VA malfeasance and urging us not to “rush to judgement” on a three page bill.)

But it’s not just healthcare, although it’s certainly prominent, important and symbolic. The Obama administration has been the best advertisement for libertarianism across the board in recent memory.

Well, we’ll see what happens this fall.

The Origination Clause

Sorry, NYT, but I just went and looked, and no one has passed an amendment repealing it.

As with Halbig, the Chief Justice may see this as a chance to rectify his previous screw up. When you strip out all the language of a House bill, leaving nothing but the bill number, it’s pretty clearly a violation of the spirit of the clause, no matter what kind of procedural games the Congress wants to play.

Nationalism

Thoughts on Ukraine, and Russia, from Anne Applebaum and Andrew Stuttaford.

I think that the usually sharp Anne misses the point here, though (as Obama did with his idiotic comment about Greeks thinking that Greece was exceptional), about American exceptionalism:

In the United States, we dislike the word “nationalism” and so, hypocritically, we call it other things: “American exceptionalism,” for example, or a “belief in American greatness.” We also argue about it as if it were something rational — Mitt Romney wrote a book that put forth the “case for American greatness” — rather than acknowledging that nationalism is fundamentally emotional. In truth, you can’t really make “the case” for nationalism; you can only inculcate it, teach it to children, cultivate it at public events. If you do so, nationalism can in turn inspire you so that you try to improve your country, to help it live up to the image you want it to have.

A thousand times, no. American exceptionalism isn’t (just) a different phrase for American nationalism. What is exceptional about America (unlike England, or Greece) is that it isn’t about birthright, or race, or location, but about ideas. American exceptionalism is the idea that anyone can be an American, if they accept the premises of America: individual liberty, limited government, and truly liberal values (something that the Left has never had — they simply appropriated the word). That is why it was perfectly appropriate for a committee looking into American communists to be called one about “un-American activities.” Because Marxism is fundamentally un-American. It may be good, it may be bad (obviously, people know what my opinion is on that score) but it is not American.

Truth Seeking In Benghazi

The Democrats need a Howard Baker.

Unfortunately, Democrats with principles (other than political victory) seem to not exist.

I would note that the Republicans took a long time to finally get on the ball, compared to Watergate. This August will be the fortieth anniversary of Nixon’s resignation, at exactly the same time in the presidential cycle that Obama’s in now.

[Update a few minutes later]

Where was Obama?

Americans have a right to know where their president was while a terrorist attack was taking place — and the daily diary will provide that information. There will be a record if Obama held a secure video teleconference (SVTC) with his military commanders in the region or even spoke with them by phone. There will be a record if he met or spoke with his national security adviser to discuss the unfolding attack, and how many times he did so. If properly kept, the logs will show precisely what Obama was doing — whether he was carefully monitoring events on the ground or was otherwise occupied.

…During Watergate, Richard Nixon had his infamous 18 1/2-minute gap. When it comes to Benghazi, Obama has an eight-hour gap. That gap needs to be closed.

If Obama has nothing to hide, then he has nothing to fear.

I think it’s similar to his unwillingness to release his college transcripts. Or let people see the Khalidi birthday-party video. There’s something there they don’t want us to see.